Zahar
In Another Job for Biggles, Zahar was a camel-driver who accompanied Doctor Guthram Darnley on his camel caravan expedition across the Rub al Khali or Empty Quarter. The camel-drivers were frequently changed as the caravan crossed tribal boundaries. Zahar was one of only three coastal Arabs who agreed to stay with the expedition all the way. He was therefore with Doctor Darnley when he discovered the gurra at the Wadi al Arwat together with the other two, Kuatim and Abu bin Hamud. Later, Abu bin Hamud, probably acting for Nicolo Ambrimos, persuaded Kuatim and Zahar to return to Wadi el Arwat to collect gurra seeds and burn the plants. When this had been done, Abu bin Hamud took the seeds and made off with the camels, leaving Kuatim and Zahar to die. Some time after, Biggles arrived at the wadi. Biggles found Zahar barely alive and was able to revive him but Kuatim was already dead. Biggles brought Zahar to Aden with instructions to keep quiet about the event. Later when Biggles was visiting Ambrimos, he hinted that there was a rumour that Zahar had been seen in Aden. Biggles did this because he believed Ambrimos was in league with Abu bin Hamud and he hoped to provoke a reaction from Ambrimos. But he regretted doing this after leaving Ambrimos because he might have put Zahar's life in danger. He was not wrong as soon after, he spotted a car sent by Ambrimos to kidnap Zahar. Biggles intercepted the car and freed Zahar, whereupon Zahar, hoping to exact vengeance on Abu bin Hamud, agreed to enter Biggles' service. The next day Zahar accompanied Biggles and Ginger on a flight to Aerodrome 137 in the Danakil desert, intending to use it as a base to make a reconnaissance of El Moab, the farm where Ambrimos grew his drugs. During the reconnaissance, Ginger dropped out and subsequently got lost. Biggles and Zahar made a search and failing to find him, returned to Aerodrome 137 where they met Bertie. The hangar in which Biggles had parked his Percival Proctor had collapsed from the sandstorm, trapping the aircraft so Biggles sent Bertie back to Aden to fetch a acetylene cutter and some dynamite to blow the dam at El Moab to destroy the crops there. While Bertie was away, Biggles spotted a group of horsemen approaching. He instructed Zahar, who was working inside the collapsed hangar to remain hidden and to tell Bertie what happened. The horsemen turned out to be working for Ambrimos and took Biggles away. When Bertie returned, Zahar told him what had happened to Biggles. Bertie decided to continue with the mission to destroy the dam at El Moab and proceeded there with Zahar. While Bertie was at the dam, he was ambushed by Abu bin Hamud who was out on patrol. Fortunately, Zahar was providing overwatch for Bertie and attacked Hamud, killing him with his knife and avenging his friend Kuatim. Bertie and Zahar then proceeded to rescue Ginger and Biggles. After returning to Aden, Zahar was suitably rewarded with a sum of money. He was later taken into government service and given a job managing a caravan of camels to supply outlying airstrips in Southern Arabia. Category:People Category:Biggles characters Category:Air Police era characters